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Since his selection as Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence has tried to stay focused on winning over conservatives skeptical of the New York billionaire.

His new boss keeps getting in the way.

On several occasions in the past week, the Indiana governor has found himself in direct conflict with Trump, taking a different campaign tact or running damage control after one of the Republican presidential nominee's incendiary remarks. The latest came Wednesday, when Pence offered an unqualified endorsement of House Speaker Paul Ryan's re-election bid a day after Trump refused to endorse Ryan.

But the vice presidential candidate took a different turn Thursday by declining to say whether he would endorse Arizona Sen. John McCain and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, saying he stands "shoulder to shoulder" with the Republican presidential candidate.

Trump Booed Leaving New York Times

President Elect Donald Trump is booed as he walks through the lobby of The New York Times Building after a 75-minute meeting with Times journalists. The lobby of the Times building is open to the public, and a large crowd had gathered by the time he departed.

(Published Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016)

“I look forward to supporting Republican candidates in the days and weeks ahead all over the country, and so does Donald Trump,” Pence said. “But the stakes in this election are so high. To restore our country and home and abroad, we need new leadership, and I’m looking forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump to drive that new leadership forward.”

Pence added that he and Trump "have different styles," which shouldn't be "confused with differences in conviction."

Curt Smith, a longtime Pence friend who runs the socially conservative Indiana Family Institute, said, "There's been some cleanup. I think you'll see more."

Trump Takes Meetings at His New Jersey Golf Club

President-elect Trump interviewed more than a dozen candidates for his administration at his New Jersey golf club over the weekend, including Mitt Romney, Rudy Guliani, Chris Christie and Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, who has been tough on immigration, and others.

(Published Monday, Nov. 21, 2016)

The early days of the general election campaign have been a contortionist act for Pence, who has remained loyal to Trump while trying to maintain his reputation as a principled, down-to-earth Midwesterner with the primary mission of acting as an emissary to the conservative and evangelical wings of the Republican Party.

The first noticeable split between nominee and running mate came during the Democratic convention, when Trump encouraged Russia to find and make public missing emails deleted by Hillary Clinton from the private servers she used while secretary of state.

At roughly the same time, Pence blasted Russia in a statement issued by the campaign that said "the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences" if Russia is "interfering in our elections."

Last weekend, Pence, whose only son is a U.S. Marine, sought to quell the uproar Trump created by lashing out at Capt. Humayun Khan's parents, who appeared at the Democratic convention and have criticized Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric. Their son was killed in Iraq.

In a statement, Pence said he and Trump believe Khan is "an American hero" and said "his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American." He then shifted gears to praise Trump, who he said will "support our military and their families" and "defeat the enemies of our freedom."

He backed up those remarks at a Monday evening town hall meeting in Nevada, when the audience jeered a woman who asked how he can tolerate what she called Trump's disrespect of American servicemen.

Pence asked the crowd to quiet down and then said of the questioner: "That's what freedom looks like. That's what freedom sounds like."

Trump, meanwhile, wrote on Twitter that day: "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same... Nice!"

On Tuesday, Pence held a meeting with Arizona Sen. John McCain — a day after the former prisoner of war said Trump did not have "unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," and hours after Trump responded by telling The Washington Post he would not endorse McCain's re-election.

In that same interview, Trump also refused to endorse Ryan, who faces a primary election next week. On Wednesday, Pence had a very different message.

"I'm very confident after Donald Trump is elected president and Paul Ryan is re-elected to Congress ... these two men are going to do great things," Pence said in an interview with Fox News Channel. "I talked to Donald Trump this morning about my support for Paul Ryan and our longtime friendship. He strongly encouraged me to endorse Paul Ryan."

While Trump has been openly hostile toward members of the media, Pence has struck a conciliatory tone. He recently gave a reporter in his traveling press entourage cupcakes for her birthday. And after law enforcement and local volunteers barred a Washington Post reporter from entering a rally in Wisconsin, Pence said on conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt's radio show the campaign would evaluate its policy and added that events would be "available to the media, whether they're fair or unfair."

Trump Holds Series of Meetings With Potential Cabinet Candidates

President-elect Donald Trump is holding a series of meetings all weekend with potential candidates at his New Jersey golf course as he continues to mull over dozens of positions in his upcoming administration. NBC's Chris Pollone reports.

(Published Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016)

Campaign spokesman Marc Lotter didn't respond to a request to interview Pence about his relationship with Trump. He also would not answer questions about the Indiana governor's approach to dealing with the fallout from Trump's remarks.

But there are no outward signs that Trump has any issues with Pence, or that his statements come as a surprise to the candidate at the top of the ticket. Two people familiar with the campaign's inner workings said the official statements and tweets from Pence are approved at campaign headquarters. They spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.